home, intensify when he takes a mistress. He in-
tends to dislodge Delia from the home that she has
made, the place where she has begun a pathetic but
meaningful little garden. Determined to oust Delia,
Sykes preys on her fear of snakes. He hides an enor-
mous rattlesnake in the laundry basket that his wife
uses, and it frightens her so badly that she seeks
refuge in the barn. Unfortunately for Sykes, the
snake targets him when he returns home. Delia,
crouched in the flowerbed that lies beneath the
bedroom window, listens to the awful commotion
that ensues as Sykes battles for his life. She refrains
from helping the man who has tormented her and
so regains her freedom from domestic tyranny.
The story offers a poignant example of woman’s
efforts to preserve her dignity. The fallen nature of
the world in which Delia finds herself and the fate
that ultimately befalls the evil man in her life
rewrite the Creation story and biblical narratives
about Eden and Eve’s temptation by the serpent.
This short story and other powerful works such as
“DRENCHED INLIGHT” (1924), and THEIR EYES
WEREWATCHINGGOD(1937) reinforced Hurston’s
reputation as a skilled writer of works that consid-
ered the complicated ways in which individuals in
general, and women in particular, secured their free-
dom and established their domestic autonomy.
Bibliography
Boyd, Valerie. Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora
Neale Hurston.New York: Scribner, 2003.
Hemenway, Robert. Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biog-
raphy.Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1977.
“Symphonesque”Arthur Huff Fauset(1926)
A stirring short story by ARTHURHUFFFAUSET.
Judges ZONAGALE,JEANTOOMER,CARLVAN
DOREN, and others awarded “Symphonesque” first
prize in the 1925 OPPORTUNITYliterary contest.
Fauset’s work edged out submissions by ZORA
NEALEHURSTON,DOROTHYWEST, and EUGENE
GORDON.
Divided into three sections, the story is fash-
ioned in the modes of a musical composition.
Sections such as “Allegro Non Troppo,” “Cres-
cendo,” and “Agitato” follow the increasingly
frenzied actions and thoughts of Cudjo, a 17-year-
old boy in Gum Ridge, Texas. He sets out from
the dilapidated cabin that he shares with a man
identified only as Old Ben, intent on watching
the Sunday afternoon baptismal exercises in the
Tougaloo River. His shouts, antics, and seemingly
uncontrollable dancing eventually prompt mem-
bers of the annoyed congregation to physically re-
move him from the scene. Cudjo then focuses his
attention on Amber Lee, a young girl who, like
him, is prone to dancing outdoors. Overtaken by
his desire for her, Cudjo snatches her but refrains
from assaulting her when he sees the fear in her
eyes. He struggles to assure Amber Lee that he
cherishes her; she responds by telling him that
she saw a demon in his eyes, one that was re-
placed by a savior. Utterly confused by the fever-
ish events of the day, Cudjo eventually makes his
way to the summit of a nearby hill, and the story
closes as the sun sets on this lonely, frustrated
character.“Symphonesque” 505